Boulder County limits where medical marijuana centers can operate

Boulder County commissioners have passed a new set of rules that govern medical marijuana dispensaries and growing operations in unincorporated parts of the county.

The regulations create a new type of land use under the existing "retail and personal service use" category called "medical marijuana center," which includes dispensaries and growing operations. The centers are allowed only in areas zoned as transitional, business, commercial, light industrial and general industrial.

Medical marijuana centers are also prohibited within 1,000 feet of licensed child-care facilities, education facilities with children younger than college age, and drug or alcohol treatment centers. Medical marijuana centers are also banned within 500 feet of one another.

The rules still allow medical marijuana patients to grow the plant in their homes for personal use. And they allow legal caregivers to grow marijuana in their homes as an "accessory home occupation."

Medical marijuana dispensaries and growing operations that want to do business in rural Boulder County will now be restricted to a relatively small area where industrial and retail uses are already allowed.

County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a new set of land use rules for “medical marijuana centers,” which limit the operations to districts in the unincorporated county that are zoned for business, transitional, commercial, light industrial and general industrial uses.

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The regulations also ban medical marijuana centers from operating within 1,000 feet of educational facilities — including daycare centers and schools with children younger than college age — and drug and alcohol treatment centers. Medical marijuana centers are also prohibited from being within 500 feet of each other, except in industrial zoning districts.

Patients are still allowed to grow marijuana for personal use in their own homes. And caregivers can also grow marijuana for their patients — now limited by state law to five people — in their residences as an “accessory home occupation.”

“In my mind, we should be directing this particular use — the medical marijuana centers — as much as we can toward the zones where they make the most sense,” said Commissioner Ben Pearlman. “In general, I'm pretty comfortable with where we ended up.”

In 2000, Colorado voters passed an amendment to the state constitution that allowed people with “debilitating” conditions to use marijuana medicinally. The medical marijuana industry, however, didn't explode in Colorado until last year, when the U.S. Department of Justice said the federal government would not prosecute medical marijuana caregivers operating in compliance with state laws.

Throughout the spring, state lawmakers struggled to write a bill to regulate the burgeoning industry. The bill was signed into law on Monday.

“The path that we have taken in Colorado has been a somewhat tortuous one, and probably not the most rational way of regulating these activities,” said Commissioner Will Toor. “But nonetheless, as a local government we don't get to decide what is done across the state of Colorado. ... Our job is to adopt appropriate land use regulations in light of the state constitution and state legislation.”

About 20 people spoke at the county's public meeting Tuesday. Many argued that growing operations should also be allowed in agricultural zoning, which covers a large part of eastern Boulder County.

“I'd like to agree with everyone about agricultural use,” said resident David Platt. “I mean, this is a plant. You can grow a plant in a warehouse, but it makes more sense to grow it in a greenhouse.”

The commissioners, in general, expressed concern that growing medical marijuana tends to be a vastly different process than growing other crops, and therefore, should be treated differently.

“It's a plant, but by and large, it's not grown as a plant,” Pearlman said. “I think the growth of marijuana, as it's currently practiced, is far closer to being a manufacturing process with the intensity of use and the amount of resources used and the security requirements.”

Most of the cities and towns in Boulder County, except Boulder and Nederland, have either banned medical marijuana dispensaries altogether or currently have a moratorium on new dispensaries.

“Virtually all of the surrounding areas have now imposed moratoriums,” said Tom Luecke, a Boulder dispensary owner. “Literally, Boulder County is the only place left, and the city.”

The new zoning rules for marijuana centers are effective immediately, but they won't be the last regulations put on medical marijuana by the county. As required by the new state law, the county must also come up with a licensing program for medical marijuana centers by next summer.

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